Relocating to Wales

Davesnave

Gigervamp wrote: »

A house suitable for your smallholding dreams will cost more than your budget, and as you're renting, will be hard to come by, I would think.

I had the impression from the OP's first post that renting was temporary while getting a feel for the chosen area.

That's exactly what we planned to do in Pembs when this property in Devon cropped-up. We were already very familiar with Devon, so buying here didn't require further research.

Mind you, we were still lucky with the village. Individual villages can be a 'known unknown,' even to the partially initiated!

Lord_Baltimore

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I have read this morning that there is going to be an element of that - on a specifically Welsh committee in Parliament (ie speaking in Welsh). I think the 1990s is when all this started from what I can make out - so not my own definition of "eons". To me "eons" would be - well maybe over a 100 years? (ie certainly outside someone's lifetime). I've still not figured out what the difference is (is there one?) between the "Welsh Assembly" and the "Welsh Government" personally....and find it far less confusing to mean "Parliament/10 Downing Street" when I refer to "the Government".

....and we'd probably have to agree to differ on our opinions on that one......

A bit off topic so apologies to the OP.
National Assembly for Wales - the elected political body (think Westminster)
Welsh Government - the Civil Service.

casper_g

:A

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

A bit off topic so apologies to the OP.
National Assembly for Wales - the elected political body (think Westminster)
Welsh Government - the Civil Service.

Staying off topic (sorry), that's not quite right. The Welsh Government fundamentally consists of politicians not civil servants - the First Minister, cabinet and other ministers - just as the British Government consists of the Prime Minister, cabinet and junior ministers. The Welsh Government Civil Service is that part of the British Civil Service that does work on behalf of the Welsh Government.

From Wikipedia:

The role of the government is to make decisions; develop and implement policy; exercise executive functions and make statutory instruments. The 60 assembly members in the National Assembly scrutinise the Welsh Government's decisions and policies; hold ministers to account; approve budgets for the Welsh Government's programmes; and have the power to enact assembly measures on certain matters.

Gigervamp

oldposter wrote: »

We both love the idea of starting (or improving an existing) small-holding, but thought that getting something like this off the ground would be difficult whilst renting? Simply down to all of the restrictions that are in place as to what you can do to the property when you don't own it. We have no way of raising enough funds for a deposit to buy a place, so that is out of the question at least for now.

oldposter wrote: »

We both drive, so transport isn't too much of an issue and again - we will definitely be renting as we have zero option to buy.

Davesnave wrote: »

I had the impression from the OP's first post that renting was temporary while getting a feel for the chosen area.

Yeah, the first post does say about renting to start with, but then OP posted the above, and it sounds more like buying is less likely to happen.


I wish the OP luck. Wales is a lovely place to live, despite the downsides. I was born and lived in London for 36 years and although living in London was great when I was young, I'm glad I'm not there now.

If OP got a job in local government, they wouldn't have to speak Welsh, other than to say hello when answering the phone, as another poster said. It's a bit of a daft rule really. My husband works in local government and had a moan about it, because if the person on the phone wants to speak in Welsh, he'd have to find someone who could speak to them! (And he's Welsh!)

Lord_Baltimore

casper_g wrote: »

:A
Staying off topic (sorry), that's not quite right. The Welsh Government fundamentally consists of politicians not civil servants - the First Minister, cabinet and other ministers - just as the British Government consists of the Prime Minister, cabinet and junior ministers. The Welsh Government Civil Service is that part of the British Civil Service that does work on behalf of the Welsh Government.

From Wikipedia:

The role of the government is to make decisions; develop and implement policy; exercise executive functions and make statutory instruments. The 60 assembly members in the National Assembly scrutinise the Welsh Government's decisions and policies; hold ministers to account; approve budgets for the Welsh Government's programmes; and have the power to enact assembly measures on certain matters.

Nope, you're wrong and the wiki quote is confused and unreliable!

The politicians in Wales are Assembly Members (AMs, including the First Minister) and AMs are the democratically elected representatives of the National Assembly for Wales.

The Welsh Government is comprised of Civil Servants with its own Permanent Secretary (Permanent Secretaries are senior Civil Servants throughout Government Departments in England and Wales).

The AMs decide how the budget is spent; the Welsh Government manages the expenditure once AMs have made the political decisions.

I know I'm right .

Davesnave

Gigervamp wrote: »

Yeah, the first post does say about renting to start with, but then OP posted...more....and it sounds more like buying is less likely to happen.
Thanks. You're right.
I wish the OP luck. Wales is a lovely place to live, despite the downsides. I was born and lived in London for 36 years and although living in London was great when I was young, I'm glad I'm not there now.

You and me, both. I only lasted in London for 2 years second time around. Used to take rides on the Metropolitan Line just to see a few fields! :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

On the other hand re Welsh Assembly?/Government? one can have the surreal experience of someone announcing "I'm from the Government" (to quote their exact words) and the conversation then goes round in ever-decreasing circles/doesnt make much sense/and you're doubtless looking more and more puzzled - until that someone finally clicks that you are responding to them as if they are "from the Government" and you don't know what they are on about and they finally announce they're from the "Welsh Assembly?/Government?" and then comprehension dawning on your face as you stop wondering why they've come all the way over to West Wales from London:rotfl:

....and things could get even more confused soon. After yesterday's comments on here I got googling and realised that it's being discussed as to whether to change the name of it. There was a questionnaire up there online from the Welsh Assembly about it I'd never heard of (open till midnight yesterday)..............

3mph

Davesnave you and me three - moved to south Wales 1980 from born and brought up in SE. Culture shock but love it. Stunning hills and coastal scenery on my doorstep, literally. Weather rubbish but mild if what feels like permanently damp.

-taff

Re the scenery.If you move to the Valleys, be prepared in some areas for it to feel like the sky is falling in on you...Not in many places, mainly along the Heads of the Valleys. That's one thing I don't miss at all. I like having big skies to look at.
And yes, the scenery is great. Countryside is never far away.

oldposter

Davesnave wrote: »

I had the impression from the OP's first post that renting was temporary while getting a feel for the chosen area.

That's exactly what we planned to do in Pembs when this property in Devon cropped-up. We were already very familiar with Devon, so buying here didn't require further research.

Mind you, we were still lucky with the village. Individual villages can be a 'known unknown,' even to the partially initiated!

Gigervamp wrote: »

Yeah, the first post does say about renting to start with, but then OP posted the above, and it sounds more like buying is less likely to happen.


I wish the OP luck. Wales is a lovely place to live, despite the downsides. I was born and lived in London for 36 years and although living in London was great when I was young, I'm glad I'm not there now.

If OP got a job in local government, they wouldn't have to speak Welsh, other than to say hello when answering the phone, as another poster said. It's a bit of a daft rule really. My husband works in local government and had a moan about it, because if the person on the phone wants to speak in Welsh, he'd have to find someone who could speak to them! (And he's Welsh!)

Davesnave wrote: »

You and me, both. I only lasted in London for 2 years second time around. Used to take rides on the Metropolitan Line just to see a few fields! :rotfl:

Sorry, that is me not being clear enough again!

Basically we would be renting to begin with and for at least the foreseeable future, but with hopes of being able to buy further down the line.

I said that there was zero option to buy at the moment because some posters were starting to advise about mortgages and possible difficulties, but that isn't something we are considering for the initial move, so it was irrelevant and I didn't want the thread to run off topic

So to be more clear, we would be renting for say 1 - 3 years (at a guess at the moment) and then looking for somewhere to buy once we have decided on an area and had some time to save.

All the replies so far though have been really helpful.....we have got so much to look into and consider (including some pitfalls that we hadn't even considered) already so thank you again